People v. Davis

YORK, P. J.—

Defendant was charged in an information filed by the District Attorney of Los Angeles County, with a violation of subdivision 2, section 337a of the Penal Code, in that on September 3, 1943, he did keep and occupy a store building at 3003 Central Avenue, Los Angeles, with books, papers, apparatus, device or paraphernalia for the purpose of recording or registering bets on horse races.

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Defendant pleaded not guilty to the charge and waived a jury trial, it being stipulated that the prosecution’s case might be submitted on the transcript of the preliminary examination and the exhibits there introduced.

This appeal is prosecuted from the judgment of conviction of the offense charged in the information, as well as from the order denying appellant’s motion for a new trial.

The only evidence produced was the testimony of the arresting officer, James Fisk, attached to “Administrative Vice” division of the Los Angeles Police Department, whose qualifications as an expert in matters concerning bookmaking were stipulated to. His testimony was to the effect that he arrested appellant on September 3, 1943 at 11:40 o’clock in the morning at a card parlor situate at 3003 Central Avenue, that as he entered the establishment he saw appellant standing to the left of the entrance with “a piece of paper in his hand which he was attempting to place inside his belt above his right hip”; that the witness took the paper (People’s Exhibit A) from appellant’s hand; that this paper proved to be a betting marker; that said witness saw another man standing at the back of a cigar counter upon which rested a Daily Turf Reporter, which was identified as a scratch sheet and marked People’s Exhibit B. Said witness stated that the papers and paraphernalia commonly used by bookmakers included scratch sheets, betting markers, racing forms, telephones, etc.; that a betting marker is used to record a bet on a horse race, records the identity of the horse indicated by a number or a name, and the identity of the bettor by name, initials or number, as well as the amount of money bet, whether to win, place or show; that a scratch sheet records entries at various tracks throughout the United States using numbers to identify the race horses on the betting marker, as well as recording the names of the jockeys, the probable odds, track and weather conditions, and other racing information. With respect to the betting marker (Exhibit A), said witness examined same and explained in detail the meaning of the various symbols and numbers used thereon; and also examined the scratch sheet (Exhibit B) which disclosed names and numbers having a definite meaning which he also explained. By then comparing the two exhibits, this witness stated he found that all the mim